"Oratory is to be estimated on principles from those which are applied to other productions. Truth is the object of philosophy and history. ... The object of oratory alone is not truth, but persuasion. ...
But the criterion of eloquence is different. A speaker who exhausts the whole philosophy of a question, who displays every grace of style, yet produces no effect on his audience, may be a great essayist, a great statesman, a great master of composition; but he is not an orator."
-Thomas Babington Macaulay, On The Athenian Orators
No comments:
Post a Comment